ICE agent rulings for illegal immigration enforcement are too vague

President Donald J. Trump’s string of executive orders prove that he is staying true to his promise to crackdown on undocumented immigrants. However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are working from an order that is so broad it gives agents a reach that they shouldn’t possess.

The new guidelines are so vague that ICE agents are now ordered to consider all offenses as grounds for deportation, no matter how small the infraction, according to the New York Times.

Considering it costs taxpayers an average of $10,000 to deport a single person and with these new rulings being much more widespread than Barack Obama’s, this won’t just be hurting families of deportees.

Because of the orders, a woman in Arizona was deported after going to see the agent she had been regularly seeing for over a decade, according to NPR.

Another woman has taken refuge in a church in Denver for fear of deportation, according to the New York Times. Both women should not have to cower in fear for their residence despite being civil and cooperative for years.

It has been about three months now since the executive order took effect, and the ICE raids have shown no signs of slowing.

In February, 161 people were arrested in ICE raids in Los Angeles County. From March to April, another 367 were detained in raids conducted nationwide.

ICE also began making arrests in courthouses in March, according to the Los Angeles Times.

It is inhumane and nonsensical to deport someone for something as mundane as a traffic violation. Tactics like these are failing to make any Americans feel safe and further split communities from their government.

On March 13, U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez and several immigration activists were briefly handcuffed and detained after protesting outside of a regional ICE office in Chicago, according to USA Today.

The protest shows the lack of understanding that the Trump administration has toward exercising force properly. Considering that Trump also barred Hispanic lawmakers from a meeting with ICE in March, according to USA today, it’s become clear that there is something to worry about for all undocumented immigrants residing in the country.

The past three months have shown how broad orders are negatively affecting Americans by ripping apart families and damaging small businesses.

It may seem reasonable that the Trump administration is only going after criminals, but it’s important to remember that whatever an ICE agent decides, goes. Videos released of fathers getting arrested in front of their children, who are crying in fear and confusion, should shame those behind this order. There is no advantage in traumatizing a child, whether their parent is undocumented or not.

A tweet from the ICE Twitter account on March 9 clarifies that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is not a protected status. This ultimately means that students can also be affected by the order.

The Obama administration was known for its high amount of deportations, but Obama had a more narrow scope, focusing on individuals with multiple felonies, according to NBC. Trump needs to take notes.

California is also on the path to pass a bill making it a sanctuary state, which would effectively protect 11.1 million undocumented that reside here.

Democrats also introduced a congressional bill this month that would prevent ICE agents from identifying themselves as police in an effort to gain back community trust, according to the LA Times.

This move shows other states an example of what needs to be done to combat Trump’s attack on undocumented immigrants, who are the entire backbone of the country.

To focus on stopping all immigration is antithetical to the very core of America’s values. There’s no reason to go after individuals who contribute to American society. The executive orders need to be reworked in a way so they can’t be enforced frivolously.

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You snuck in the immigration comment as if the illegal designation is unimportant. Families of those who are caught breaking our law are traumatized daily by arrests which is not a good thing but equivalent to what happens to citizens who break the law. Do you cry for them? The person, the individual who knowingly continues to break our law, they are responsible for placing their child in that scenario, them.

New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and several other states sued Obama about immigration. Obama prevailed because immigration actions are exclusively Federal laws. Illegal immigrants already break the law when fail to enter through a port of entry. If they work, they either have to falsify a SSN or steal one (identity theft). The 14th Amendment requires ALL laws to be enforced equally. A state, county or city that refuses to enforce federal law reminds me of the South in the late 50’s. Eisenhower had to send in the National Guard to force federally mandated integration. Whether it’s integration, immigration, the robbery of a FDIC insured bank, interstate flight or kidnapping, federal law pre-empts all others. The notion of a “sanctuary city”, defying federal law is no different from a local school board, in the deep South, defying federal civil rights/integration law. The 14th Amendment requires equal protection under the law as well as the “due process” clause. Immigration is a PROCESS and over one million immigrants do it legally every year.